MIT researchers have created a method for printing large objects by starting very small.

Kenneth Cheung and Neil Gershenfeld, director of MIT’s Bits and Atoms project, have been playing with 3D printing for a while. In a twist on the standard 3D printing approach, Cheung and Gershonfeld have create a 3D printing technique that creates tiny, lightweight blocks that can be snapped together to form larger objects.

The two researchers imagined a robot apparatus that would print and assemble pieces of a larger whole, bit by bit. Key to developing this new technique was creating a material that could be adapted to a number of different applications. According to Cheung and Gershenfeld the material they created can, “form a structure that is 10 times stiffer for a given weight than existing ultra light materials."

MIT’s new modular 3D printing system has proven itself to be extremely adaptable, a property that could make it invaluable to both aerospace and civil engineers.